Bamboo Lantern Festival - THREE

Bamboo Lantern Festival - TWO

Bamboo Lantern Festival - ONE

Bamboo Lantern Festival 竹燈籠祭り
The 7th Bamboo Lantern Festival will be held on Oct 11 and 12, between 5pm and 9pm in Murakami. Lighting 5000 lanterns made of bamboo in the castle town with traditional Japanese instrumental music.

About Murakami
A laid-back castle town of salmon and hot spring delights Senami Onsen:This century-old onsen, which boasts an abundant source of hot spring water and high temperatures, is captivating for the views of the sunset as it dips into the Sea of Japan and for the delicacies caught from that very same body of water.Famous Products of Murakami are (green) tea (Murakami is the northernmost tea-growing spot in Japan), salmon, and Murakami beef.

Windy Tree

Old Temple in Murakami

Dorayaki

Dorayaki (どら焼き, どらやき, 銅鑼焼き, ドラ焼き, Dorayaki?) is a type of Japanese confection which consists of two small pancake-like patties made from kasutera wrapped around a filling of sweet red bean paste.

It originally only had one layer, and the current shape was invented in 1914 by the Ueno Usagiya.

In Japanese, dora means "gong", and this is probably the origin of the name of the sweet.

The famous Japanese anime cat robot character Doraemon likes to eat dorayaki very much. This is a kind of punning, though his name comes not from "dorayaki" but from the word "doraneko" (stray cat.) The dorayaki was a plot device several times throughout the series. In Japan, a company sells a limited version of dorayaki called Doraemon Dorayaki every year from March to September.

Want to know how to make Dorayaki? Click here for the recipe

(source: Wikipedia)

Town Area

Yakiniku

Yakiniku (焼き肉 or 焼肉), meaning "grilled meat", is a Japanese term which, in its broadest sense, refers to grilled meat dishes.

Today, it commonly refers to a Japanese style of cooking bite-sized meat (usually beef and offal) and vegetables on gridirons or griddles over flame of wood charcoals carbonized by dry distillation (sumibi, 炭火) or gas/electric grill. In North America, China and Taiwan, Yakiniku is also referred to as either "Japanese barbecue" or "Korean barbecue" [1][2] due to its Korean origins.

It is thought to have originated from horumonyaki, a dish of grilled offal, invented by Korean immigrants in the Kansai area after the Second World War.[3]

In a yakiniku restaurant, diners order several types of prepared raw ingredients (either individually or as a set) which are brought to the table. The ingredients are cooked by the diners on a grill built into the table throughout the duration of the meal, several pieces at a time. The ingredients are then dipped in sauces known as tare before being eaten. The most common sauce is made of Japanese soy sauce mixed with sake, mirin, sugar, garlic and sesame. Garlic-and-shallot or miso-based dips are sometimes used, and sometimes yakiniku is eaten seasoned only with salt. Soup, kimchi, nameul, bibimbap and other Korean-influenced dishes are often served alongside.

(full article from Wikipedia)

Japanese Tree Frog

The Japanese tree frog (Hyla japonica) is a species of tree frog belonging to the genus Hyla. The species is distributed from Hokkaidō to Yakushima in Japan and from Korea along the Ussuri River to northeastern China.

(source: Wikipedia)

Japanese Rice Cake (Mochi)

Mochi (Japanese: 餅; Chinese: 麻糬) is a Japanese and Chinese rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape. In Japan it is traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki. While also eaten year-round, mochi is a traditional food for the Japanese New Year and is commonly sold and eaten during that time.

Mochi is similar to the Chinese rice cake nian gao; however, mochi is shaped from cooked glutinous rice right after it is pounded, whereas nian gao is steamed directly to its final form from a batter made of uncooked glutinous rice flour. In the Philippines, it is called palitao in Tagalog and is coated with sesame seeds and grated coconut.

(source: Wikipedia)